Yeah just like Watchmen did. I disagree on a primal scream of just not appreciating the actual genre level as well as pretending something is deeper than it really is.

The Dark Knight pushed the norms of the comic film genre. Let me count the ways: The hero's love interest decides that she doesn't want to be with him. The heroes' ambition came back to bite them in the ass. Big time: not only does the Rachel love die (and prior to this, she was her own character who made her own decisions), but a formerly heroic character is revealed to be a psycopath with no qualms about holding his ally's family at gunpoint. Finally, the villain: he's not a campy menace nor a 1-dimensional Snidely Whiplash. The Joker is a nihilist who has decided to strike back at a system that he believes has wronged him. His actions are appropriately brutal, and Nolan pulled no punches there. Thus, the Dark Knight has established itself as a revolutionary film in the comic book genre. It demands that other comic films be allowed to develop and flow naturally, rather than fitting comfortably into the same old mold.

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"I defeated your uncle Victarion and his Iron Fleet off Fair Isle, the first time your father crowned himself. I held Storm's End against the power of the Reach for a year, and took Dragonstone from the Targaryens. I smashed Mance Rayder at the Wall, though he had twenty times my numbers. Tell me, turncloak, what battles has the Bastard of Bolton ever won that I should fear him?" - Stannis Baratheon